March 16, 1521 - 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines

Three days from today, a historic date for us.

March 16, 1521. Magellan reached our shores. The West meets East, the East meets West.

Fast forward, this year 2021, days before this 500th year of Magellan’s historic arrival in our country, Pope Francis became the first pontiff to visit Iraq, known as “the ancestral home of the monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, because the so-called “father of faith”, Abraham, was from the ancient city of Ur (southern Iraq). And it is from Ur that Abraham is traditionally believed to have set out in faith for peace.”

From Iraq to Europe, from Spain to the Philippines, religion, Christianity included, has gone a long way, since father Abraham’s journey of faith, in complete obedience to God.

Magellan was part of the historic age of colonization when ships sailed from countries with superior maritime knowledge/expertise and travelled beyond their own territories to annex new ones for their rulers. During colonization, the world’s countries fell under the control of the then major maritime powers- Spain, Portugal, Britain, and France.

For God, gold/resources, and guns, for faith, wealth and power.

Colonizers including Spaniards mentioned all or some of these goals for reaching our shores, those in the Americas and elsewhere all throughout the world.

Through Magellan’s expedition, Spain, shared Abraham’s journey of faith in God with our ancestors. Five hundred years later, we will celebrate that historic period when we were introduced to God, everyone’s God, who loves all.

Before Magellan came to our shores, we also need to remember that much earlier, years ahead of Christianity, our ancestors in our south embraced Islam. Also, centuries earlier, our earlier ancestors all throughout our archipelago, worshipped their gods.

For sure, the words Magellan shared to our ancestors during that historic period, 500 years back, may have been different but this contemporary message of Pope Francis during his recent March 2021 visit to Iraq is so much worth our serious understanding and reflection:

“Today we, Jews, Christians and Muslims, together with our brothers and sisters of other religions, honor our father Abraham by doing as he did: we look up to heaven and we journey on earth.”

Though he may not be present physically here in the Philippines to celebrate on that historic date, Pope Francis will lead a mass at Saint Peter’s Basilica on March 14 for the celebration of 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines, according to Scalabrinian priest Fr. Ricky Gente of the Filipino Chaplaincy in Rome.

The Mass will be at 10 a.m. (Rome time), or 5 p.m. (Manila time), on March 14, this Sunday. The Pope will lead the traditional Angelus prayer after the mass.

Please remember and share this mass schedule with all interested.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, who is also former Manila archbishop, and Cardinal Angelo de Donatis, the vicar of Rome, will also join this mass to be celebrated by Pope Francis.

Join us in Rome to pray, praise, and thank God for his gift of the Christian faith!” The mass will be livestreamed to reach Filipinos around the world!

As we remember and thank God for his gift of faith for us all, shall we also take this occasion to reflect on what 500 years of Christianity have brought for our country, especially for our people?

The colonizers introduced us to our God who loves us best and who, in turn, we should love “with all our heart, our soul, our mind and strength!”

As individuals, as a nation, have we faithfully followed God’s second greatest commandment – “love our neighbors/people as ourselves?”